Britain’s 12 million pensioners contribute £2,000 each to the economy every
year though unpaid childcare, voluntary and charity work, a report found
yesterday.

A report by MGM Advantage, a pensions company, found that retired people contribute £25billion a year to the economy yet a third of them feel unappreciated.

The report described the low regard in which pensioners are held as an "indictment of society" and called on the Government to appoint a Minister for Retirement to represent their views.

A survey of over 2,000 people aged 65 and over found that a third of pensioners think that wider society treats them badly. Meanwhile almost all retired people said that they dislike the label ‘old age pensioners’ or OAPs, with a third preferring the term ‘senior citizen’.

Craig Fazzini-Jones, executive director at MGM Advantage, said that retired people “deserve respect and attention for the contribution they make” to society.

The report said that with the number of retired people set to get even bigger over the medium term, “more should be done to challenge the pre-conceived notion of retirement”. This year 658,000 people reached 65, an increase of 12,000 on 2010, taking the total number of retired people to 11.8 million. Next year, 806,000 people will reach 65, further swelling the number of retired people. This trend will continue as the baby boomer generation grows older.

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The Retirement Nation report found that retired people collectively save the Government and parents £15.4 billion a year by taking on unpaid care of grandchildren. In addition to this, retired people undertake voluntary work in their local communities worth £5.6 billion a year, and do charitable work worth £3.4 billion a year.

Almost a third of retired people said that they feel undervalued and not respected by society. Just 14 per cent said that they feel valued, while the balance – 55 per cent – said that they are sometimes treated badly.

The report found that over half of retired people said that failing health was their biggest concern. Around a third said that a lack of money in their retirement is the biggest worry, while five per cent said that boredom was the major concern.

Rachel Vahey, who wrote the report, said: “More needs to be done to understand the different life stages in retirement and the changing needs of individuals. Retired people are not a homogenous group – they are a big part of society – rich in diversity and will many net contributors.”